JABAR EKSPRES – The debutant team at the FIFA Basketball World Cup 2023 or FIBA World Cup 2023, Latvia, gave a surprise by overcoming one of the strong teams France dramatically with a score of 88-86 in the second match of Group H at the Indonesia Arena Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, Sunday (7/27).
Both teams played fiercely from the start. The first quarter opened with a three-point shot shootout by each team’s retainer. Nicolas Batum started first for France before Dairis Bertans did the same and made the score 3-3.
In this initial quarter, Latvia as a debutant team gave a great resistance to the third-ranked 2019 edition of the FIBA World Cup, France. However, French coach Vincent Collet’s team was still better by closing the first quarter with a score of 33-26.
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The actor of France’s glory in the first quarter was New York Knicks NBA club basketball player Evan Fournier who scored 15 points.
The second quarter began, fierce competition still occurred where four minutes of the game the score showed 38-30 which was still in France’s favor. With the support of supporters who came all the way, Latvia appeared heroic in the final minutes of the second quarter.
Luca Banchi’s team was able to make two-point to three-point shots so well that they were able to reduce the gap to 49-53.
The third quarter began, the tempo of the game decreased slightly. Halfway through the third quarter France put in 12 points and Latvia put in 10 points so that the score changed to 65-59.
Latvia then let their guard down. From the French camp, Sylvain Francisco scored a beautiful three-pointer and a few seconds later was followed by Evan Fournier who scored two points. The score changed 70-59 and France was 11 points ahead in the third quarter with 3.4 minutes remaining.
